Bar code scanning technology has been in use for quite some time. Such bar codes appear on most items encountered by consumers every day—from grocery items to driver's licenses. Other types of codes (such as private codes), and methods for acquiring such codes, have been and are continuing to be developed. Bar codes and other codes allow for fast and easy identification, tracking, and inventory of items as well as storage of data relating to such items. As bar codes have become a common and familiar part of the consumer experience, so has the use of web services and applications. Different types of web services and applications continue to grow in number and popularity.
Identifying ways of converging these two apparently disparate technologies to create a product that provides mobility, simplicity, accuracy, convenience and efficiency to web applications and services would enable companies to reduce costs (by replacing formerly manual tasks with bar coding technology), increase revenue (by offering barcode-enabled advertising alternatives that allow consumers to learn about products, prices, store locations etc.), increase productivity (by automating sales force tasks such as product ordering), and improve customer loyalty (by offering barcode related value-added services to customers).